Tag Archives: wind

Well here we are on Thursday, and still no power. Actually we are more fortunate than most because hubby wanted to make sure back in September that he would be able to work, just in case the power should go out. So we have a generator wired in to our utility panel in the garage. We have lights, microwave, the most important coffee maker, and the TV are all available to us. OK, the most important thing is really Rick’s computers, so he can work. We do not have our heaters, but we do have a propane fireplace and the fan works to blow heat in our front room. It does a good job too. We don’t have our washer and dryer, or range/oven, and our fifth member of the family – the dish washer… and NO HOT WATER! But I’m not complaining, really, I’m not. Our routine for this week has been as follows: wake at 5:30am, bundle up and go out to the garage to watch hubby take generator outside (bet you wish I had a picture of this), wait for him to get it going and then my most important job… I plug the cable in! I think he wants to make sure if anyone is going to get zapped… well… that it’s NOT him! Now that’s love.

On the way home tonight I heard on the radio that Ocean Shores wasn’t going to be getting power late tonight like they had thought. It seems there is another power pole down here in town that will need to be replaced. So now they are saying tomorrow morning some time. You know what that means! I’m going to get to take a hot shower tomorrow night when I get home! Wahooooo! I don’t think I could thank those power people out there enough. I was thinking about it as I drove to work this morning, that this is a huge, and I mean really huge job. Our local PUD has been hard at work since the winds stopped blowing and they are doing an amazing job. I believe they have crews from all over Washington state here helping too. Things got off to a bumpy start with 2 PUD men getting injured while working during the storm. One man fell 40 feet from the bucket on his truck. They had to take him to Seattle to the hospital, but he is doing better now. Both were first taken to our local Hospital in Aberdeen, and then the emergency crews had to actually cut a path through the trees that were down over the roads to get him out of Grays Harbor. What an adventure that must have been. I’m just glad that they are both doing better now. One nice thing about small communities and local radio stations, they do a good job at keeping you posted on everything!

The main highway that leads from Aberdeen to Montesano (where I work) is now open! I am so glad, I hated having to go around the long way. I couldn’t believe what a mess the trees left and the damage they did falling on all the guard rails along the road – all I can say is wow, it’s amazing more people were hurt.

OK, are you ready for some more exciting news? The temperatures are dropping and the skies are clearing… we are supposed to be down in the upper 20’s and low 30’s tonight and through the weekend. But even more exciting is that we may have moisture come back by Sunday, just in time to bring us more snow – maybe… well, what we are hearing right now, may very well change by then.

Because of the storm we are going to have our bazaar continue next week too. So I’m still knitting worshrags. I’m hoping to get another 5 done before Monday. I really need/want to get back to knitting on my mom’s Christmas present, and I miss knitting on my GAA blocks. Oh well, it will all still be there. I’m just getting that weird feeling again because I’m 5 weeks from surgery on my left wrist. Remember how well I did with the right! 🙂 I think this time will go better because it’s my left hand, and I’m right handed. It’s just the thought of no knitting for several weeks. Last time I did a lot of catching up on blog reading and finding way too many patterns that I think I need to knit!

I want to share something so cool that happened to me last week. One of my dear knitting/co-workers brought me the coolest thing… just out of the blue…

Don’t you love it. It’s my knitting bank! I’m thinking I should be putting money in it for something special, but I just haven’t figured out what yet. Any ideas? (I mean besides more yarn.)

I’m going to leave you now with a picture of my lovely Cassie Rabbit (yes, I know she’s a dog) this is her favorite place to hog the heat.

If you pull her nap blankies away from the fireplace she just pulls them right back. She gets so hot, and then she just rolls over to cook her other side. You should see how pink her tummy gets. I’ll keep pulling her back and trying to stay warm for the night myself.

Well this past weekend I spent all my time working on dip mixes, because this week was to be our company bazaar. So I didn’t bother with the laundry or the vacuuming or anything house cleaning like, because I could do that later Monday or Tuesday night… so I thought!

Saturday it snowed… but it didn’t stay. It was pretty to watch coming down.

Then Sunday night the storm hit. About 11:40 pm we lost power and it sounded like our house was going to blow away. It was so loud outside. The wind in the trees and the sound of the ocean. My chairs on the front porch all blew to one side. The next morning I got up bright and early ready to head in to work, excited about the bazaar. I made it about 3 blocks before I encountered my first set of trees down across the road. While I stopped to thing about another route around the phone rang. It was my co-worker and dear friend Patty telling me that the roads were closed and I couldn’t make it work so I should go back home… and there was virtually no power in the county. I turned around and was back home by 6:30am and got back into my warm bed and listened to the news on the radio about all the damage that had been done. The Sheriff was saying that if you didn’t need to be on the roads you should stay home. Rick already had the generator running so he could work, so I eventually got up and moved out to the front room to do what else… knit! So what do you knit when you are listening to a storm, and your nerves are shot? Worshrags! I wanted to sell a few in the bazaar but I didn’t have very many done yet, so now was a good time to make a few more.

Monday afternoon when Rick finished working we took a little drive around our small community at the beach.

Yes, we drove under this!

This is at the park near our house.

This is the tree that I encountered Monday morning that was down and in my way.

A quick trip out to the beach for the dogs to run, or blow around.

Tuesday came around and I was heading out to work. I couldn’t believe how many trees came down on power lines. As I drove through Hoquiam and Aberdeen and then through Cosmopolis (because the highway to work is still closed) I was amazed at how many houses lost their roofs and siding. Stuff was everywhere, it was like a hurricane had hit. And according to the weather services the winds in Hoquiam were over 80 mph and then the system crashed. Out here at the beach they said gusts were between 75 & 100 mph!! I counted 4 portable potties laying on their sides in the ditches around the new home sites before I even left Ocean Shores.

This is some of the stuff I saw on my way to work. This tree was across the main highway from Ocean Shores to Hoquiam.

Tree down in a front yard in Aberdeen.

Trees down on power lines from Hoquiam to Ocean Shores.

I brought our 5 gallon gas can to work with me so I could get it filled before going home. Not a simple thing to do. The line at the gas station in Montesano was 4 or 5 blocks long, and they told me that gas would be gone before I got over there. So I drove to Elma about 8 miles from Montesano (where I work). I got in line there only to find out 4 cars before me, that they were running out of gas and the pumps were super slow. So back on the highway and down the road to McCleary, about another 15 miles (I think). I jumped into line with only 4 cars in front of me! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I left the pumps… the line was now 2 blocks long! I guess everyone left Elma and came here. Another good thing about getting gas in McCleary was that they had power and that meant that I could get a latte! I was dieing for a coffee drink. Then I zipped back down the road to work and tried to stay focused to get some work done so I could get out of there early enough to be home before dark. I didn’t want to drive home in the dark and I wanted to get to the store before they closed at 4 pm. I made it with 5 minutes to spare. They had limited items available because they were using generator power only. I was just so thankful that they were open and I appreciate the fact that these people were not working under ideal conditions and I know that their families were probably sitting at home in the cold and dark too.

Today those great people at IGA in Ocean Shores were taken to the Hospital in Aberdeen because the generators were not venting correctly and 19 people were treated for CO poisoning. They are going to be alright but my prayers are with them and their families.

We still do not have power and they are saying maybe by Friday, but more likely by Monday. My fingers are crossed that it will be the sooner of the two.

Rick is saying it’s time to turn off the generator for the night, and I’m not ready to give up the lights and heat yet! So I need to go negotiate now. 🙂

My Favorite men…

my baby brother and my husband

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My love affair with yarn started with a trip to my LYS (The Yarn Corner in Aberdeen, WA) in March of 2006, and since that day I can't get enough! This is also when I learned to knit and gained many new friends.

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